58 God spoke, full of wisdom, and added the following words:

59-71 "Raven, I shall give you instructions. Pay attention to my instructions. Raven, in the shrine I shall give you instructions. Pay attention to my instructions. First, chop up and chew the kohl for the priests of Eridug with the oil and water which are to be found in a lapis-lazuli bowl and are placed in the back-room of the shrine. Then plant them in a trench for leeks in a vegetable plot." The raven paid exact attention to the instructions of its Lord. It chopped up and chewed the kohl for the priests of Eridug with the oil and water which were to be found in a lapis-lazuli bowl and were placed in the back-room of the shrine. It planted them in a trench for leeks in a vegetable plot. A plant growing in a plot like a leek, an oddity standing up like a leek stalk -- who had ever seen such a thing before?

That a bird like the raven, performing the work of man, should make the counterweight blocks of the shadouf bump up and settle down; that it should make the counterweight blocks of the shadouf bump down and rise up -- who had ever seen such a thing before?

72-90 Then the raven rose up from this oddity, and climbed up it -- a date palm! -- with a harness. It rubbed off the kohl which it had stuffed into its beak onto the pistils, just as with a date palm, a tree growing forever -- who had ever seen such a thing before? Its scaly leaves surround its palmheart. Its dried palm-fronds serve as weaving material. Its shoots are like a surveyor's gleaming line; they are fit for the king's fields. Its branches are used in the king's palace for cleaning. Its dates, which are piled up near purified barley, are fit for the houses of worship. That a bird like the raven, performing the work of man, makes the counterweight blocks of the shadouf bump up and settle down; that it makes the counterweight blocks of the shadouf bump down and rise up -- who had ever seen such a thing before? At its Lord's command, the raven stepped into the Deep.